Insurer FBD expects to deliver better-than-expected profits and earnings in the second half of the year due to a strong performance in its core underwriting business.
In an interim management statement, FBD said it was confident it would deliver full-year operating earnings per share of 155 to 165 cent, an increase of 10 cent on previous guidance.
“The group has performed ahead of market guidance, primarily due to the continuation of the first half claims performance in the underwriting business,” it said.
The group said its online channels, FBD.ie and NoNonsense.ie, were attracting growing numbers of customers from their respective target markets and the initiative to enter into partnerships with insurance brokers to increase penetration of the business insurance market was “progressing positively”.
In the second half of 2012 to date, the insurer admitted policy volumes had declined marginally with prices in the market for certain insurance products continuing to fall.
The lower prices were, in some cases, attributable to reducing risk as economic activity declines, it said. However, it added that in other cases this did not fully explain the reduction in premium.
In the first six months of the year, gross premiums written were marginally lower than the previous year but well ahead of the market, which contracted by 6.3 per cent, FBD said.
